The Sound of Magic (2022)

I wanted to love it so much…

I’m actually really sad I didn’t enjoy this more. It could be because this one of the dramas I was looking forward to & I had high expectations. JCW and HIY are high on my list of faves, I wasn’t disappointed in their acting here, but I don’t feel like the characters were written out that great. So much happened in the end, it felt rushed & left a few characters without closure.

I did enjoy the fact that it was a musical, fantasy genre. Some songs felt misplaced or a bit off to me but it wasn’t too bad. Def a handful of beautiful scenes where the cinematography was nice. I think overall, I felt that the characters & some parts of the storyline really needed some nuance. It could be it needed a few more episodes to be flushed out all the way. Seems that many folks enjoyed it & compared it to the webtoon—I think I might have to give the webtoon a shot. But as for the drama, it left me wanting so much more & it, unfortunately, was not memorable for me.

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it was not what i expected

i started watching this just because of ji Chang wook and i ended up confused as hell lmao i did NOT like that he or his character was involved with a high school student she is a minor for god's sake
reviews say that there was no romance but still being an adult this invested into a teenager's life makes me cringe.

the plot was quite plain and was not surprising at all, i did not even like the one thing that it "focused" on which is the music
as the story progresses the music just became more bland and forgettable

and what keeps this drama from getting a high score from me is it's entertainment value, as mentioned before the first couple of episodes do not really bring anything new to the table. and the overuse of the phrase "do you believe in magic" was just cringe

but like if one thing about this drama that is realistic to me is that the poor female lead does not have the newest smart phone which is kinda a good thing? idk lol

i hope chang wook acts in better dramas next time i was hoping on seeing more of him

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Sky Castle Meets Cinderella

I related to many things in the story and characters and so was completely absorbed in what would happen to them and how they would overcome their obstacles. I smiled, I laughed, I cried and then back again until the story ended but will always live on in my heart. This is one of those stories that comes along once in a long while. Everything about it is perfect. A wonderful and meaningful story, an exceptional cast, great direction, and all done in six episodes. Thank you to Netflix and the Sound of Magic team who came together to work on and share this magical story.

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Well, that was interesting.

I find it intriguing thatthis musical was based on a webtoon. How did they get the music into the webtoon? Probably didn't , and it was my feeling that the show would have been better without songs. I didn't care for them - they struck me as uninspired and disrupted the flow of the narrative, But it was an interesting experiment, and I give them points for trying something new, even if I personally didn't care for it.

I was pretty bored by the first 3 episodes but decided to stick it out. It took and unexpected turn and got darker - and much improved - as it went on. It's a theme that I'm sure resonates strongly with Korean teens, and probably with all teens under serious academic pressure from their families. A lot of what the parents said seemed over the top, but perhaps that is really what Asian parents feel. It's not a stance that , as a very liberal American parent , can imagine doing to my child, who dropped out of high school with my blessings and was earning more at 20 than I ever earned as a school teacher. For me, the real takeaway was, have faith in your children. They can figure out their own lives better than we ca.n

As for this show, it's original and well done. And if you are not totally in love with Ji Chang-Wook by the end, I can't imagine what you have been thinking.

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Annara Sumanara 'Do you believe in magic?'

A sound of magic is a drama combines elements of magic, musical, mystery. The story was a little boring at first, for some reason I didn't really feel it. Like.. something is missing. Maybe because the concept of disney kdrama is still new to me. Concepts like this are usually shown in theaters. I think it's better if the singing scene is reduced, so that the emotional story can be conveyed more.
But the voice of the actors is good, the songs are also good. I like the song by Hwang Inyeop in eps 3 and IU-knees in ep 4. As the episodes add up, I'm curious about Ri Eul's character. He's so gray, I wonder if Ri Eul is a magician who uses magic tricks, or a human who actually has magical abilities. I also wonder if Ri Eul is a good person or a bad person. The story of Na Ildeung and Yoon Ah Yi is a common topic in Korean dramas. Na Ildeung with parents' demands to be the best in everything, Yoon Ah Yi who is a smart student but has financial difficulties and family problems. Hwang Inyeop's face is youthful and still fits the role of a high school student. Ri Eul serves to comfort and enlighten Yoon Ah Yi and Na Il Deung through his magic.
My curiosity regarding Ri Eul was answered in the last two episodes though not all. I didn't really like the ending where Ri Eul disappeared like magic and all the criminal charges against him were not proven. I need an answer where did he go? And the secrets behind the magic. Even so, this drama has a good message. There are many life lessons in it. worth it to watch because the duration is also short.

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Do You Believe in Magic?

What could be better than to have this mere question capturing the essence of this series? Sound of Magic, starring the all rounder Ji Changwook is one amazing masterpiece with a pinch of twists but tons of pixie dusts, that's fantasy. If you're a fantasy lover, this drama calls your name. The Sound of Magic plays with this idea constantly, combining elements of The Miracle on 34th Street, Goblin and Extracurricular, blending them together into a beautifully surreal and incredibly thought provoking series. What begins as a fantastic journey into the world of magic soon takes a dark turn as we’re left to question exactly what we’ve seen >•<
I’m being careful not to go into spoilers here but suffice to say, The Sound of Magic is a magical series; a wonderful, hedonistic ride boasting strong themes at the heart of this one that gives it a good amount of depth.
Magic tricks aside, The Sound of Magic also has a smattering of dream sequences, interesting choreography and some breath-taking shots of Korea too.
The Sound of Magic won’t be for everyone but the series does a fantastic job fleshing out all of its characters, delivering a simple but effective story and layering all of that with thought provoking and relevant themes about society and our place in the world. The rest is upon your verdict! I could go hours for how perfect this show was and how massive potentials it holds for season2!

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Two things...

kept this drama from being 10 stars.

One, I was disappointed with the ending. I know that it mostly faithfully follows the webtoon (and I think it's a great thing when TV or film adaptations do this), but I also found the ending of the webtoon a wee bit disappointing. I don't like that the magician disappears. Symbolism, and all that, but still, as a voracious eater of media, I like my endings satisfying. It's the same reason I don't watch dramas where my favorite characters die. It's just not my thing, and it's a very personal feeling.

Two, there were just a few small things that didn't add up. Who were the kids that were beating up Il Deung toward the end? He just all of a sudden started getting bullied when it had been happening to Ah Yi all show long? And then we never saw them again. This is just lazy writing, when characters appear out of nowhere to fill in the plot with no foreshadowing. And the way the murder was solved also just came off a little toooooo convenient for me. But that sometimes happen when you are literally writing with magic in your story.

Overall though, there was a lot I loved in The Sound of Magic. The length was exceptional. Often I feel dramas are too draggy with a lot of filler, and it causes me to drop them. Sidenote: I drop a lot of dramas. With the sound of magic, 6 episodes kept the plot moving at a quick pace, and it didn't feel like anything was rushed. The acting was impressive, with Ji Chang Wook blowing me away as always. The other two main actors were talented as well, and I am fast becoming a fan of Hwang In Youp.

Music and singing were blow me away fantastic, yet not inaccessible. I like that I could sing any of the songs if I wanted to because singers weren't trying to reach the highest notes or singing with too much vibrato. I've always been a fan of Wookie's voice, and I loved him here.

Special effects were well done as well. I loved the butterfly symbolism.

Spoiler Alert:

I didn't love the way Bella was treated by the writers. It's not that she died that I have a problem with (though I do feel it was entirely unnecessary and cheap), it's that Ri Eul specifically asked Ah Yi to take care of Bella while he was away, and then we never saw her again until she had passed. There was no scene of them caring for her, and I found it strange, but I know that in Korea, domesticated animals are not revered as much ad they are where I am from, so maybe that was it.

I do feel this drama is worth watching, but maybe my expectations were a little too high. It's definitely short enough to give it a watch and see how you feel.

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Lovely Watch!

I really enjoyed this mini-series. It was 6 episodes and it was long enough for me. I know there are some negative comments about unanswered questions and so on...but I don't feel the same way. everything wrapped up nicely to me with just enough mystery left. I don't care to know where the musician is and I know that the magic isn't real, and I also get where the story was going. I loved that he swooped in and save these two teens from their miserable lives, by helping them to change their mindset. I'm a big believer and doing things that make you happy and enjoying the happy moments even while you struggle. life is too short to just follow the routines and as cliche as it sounds 'life is what you make it'.

The show does give that broadway feel to it which Wookie nailed, ofcourse. It did add a heartwarming feel to what started out as a very depressing drama. I am not sure that there is proper character development or that the writer showed the changes in the ML properly. Yes, it showed him dropping out of school and so on, but the main people were his parents.

All in all, I really enjoyed it! Do I need to rewatch? Probably not.

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Catch me crying because I love humanity (review + analysis)

One day, as I spaced out during an online class bc I’m a grad student and adhd is a helluva thing, I decided to google this show. I had heard of it and so had my sister (“I think a magician kidnaps some kids, and it has no romance?”), so I decided that I wanted to watch watch it in the near future. Maybe it was Ji Chang Wook’s face, or my weakness for ‘magical dude who is mysterious and slightly hobo-like’ characters. Nearly one month later, I finally watched it.

Let’s get the obvious out of the way, I loved it. This show does a surprisingly good job of balancing dark story elements with an undying sense of hope. What this ends up doing is creating a story without an easy resolution, which is what I think has bothered some people about this show. There is no way that this show was every going to have a ‘and they lived happily ever after’ kind of ending, but I think it works for the material.

The truth is that this story really has three lead characters. Because it’s not a romance, we do away with the idea of second leads and one getting shafted in favor of another. I’ll consider Ah Yi, Ri Eul and Il Deung as three leads because despite not getting equal amounts of screen time, they’re the only characters whose pasts and psyches we get a proper glimpse into. I loved that Ri Eul comes into Ah Yi's life as an almost angelic figure who she believes will solve all her practical problems but then he’s kinda useless at that. He can’t give her the money she needs (except for that one time??? don't think about it too much), can’t give Ah Yi and her sister a better home to live in, make her an independent adult or bring her parents back. What he *does* bring is a chance for her to regain the youth and innocence she’s lost in the struggle of her difficult life. This works because it ensures that she seeks him out because she wants to feel that peace and carelessness he allows her and not because she’s dependent on him for her needs. In turn, he forgets his lonely existence for the duration of her visits and gets do what he seems to enjoy most: entertain and create a sense of wonder in others. Though she does doubt him at certain points (understandably so, things were looking pretty sus for a moment there) Ah Yi ultimately sticks by his side because as he says, he only needs one person to believe in his magic. This is very much a friendship and anyone who says otherwise is a weirdo.

The struggle of real world vs fantasy is present through the entire show. It’s sometimes unclear when watching whether something really happened or not. Some viewers may dislike this, but I ague that it serves to drive one of the ideas behind the show forward. Did it happen or not? Your mileage my vary, possibly depending on your stance on whether magic exists or not. A great example of this is the disappearance of the horrible boss. We first see it from Ah Yi’s perspective, Ri Eul flicks his cape and the creep is gone. Later, once the creep returns (everyone booed), he claims that Ri Eul flicked his cape and pushed him over the railing. Ah Yi, and by extent the viewer, wonders whether Ri Eul is simply an elaborate con artist. Surely, he didn’t *actually* disappear the creep, he’s got the scars to prove his fall! And yet, by the end of the story, Ah Yi pulls the same trick on Ri Eul to help him escape from the police, and he looks on proudly as he disappears before the bewildered eyes of several witnesses (the fact that Ah Yi wasn’t arrested as an accomplice or for obstruction of justice is a downright miracle). So, does magic exist? What actually happened with the creep? The ambiguity works to leave the decision up to the viewer, and I think it’s a good choice for this type of story. Who knows, maybe both things are true. Though, I won’t lie, the idea that magic exists and Ri Eul can wield it but he still decided to straight up shove the creep over the railing for assaulting a minor is hilarious and, honestly? I can’t really fault him for it . Maybe Ri Eul giving a damn was the true magic all along.

The only one element truly tips the scale on the “is magic real?” debate is that of Ri Eul's butterfly necklace. It glows and then unexplainable things happen, like fireworks going off out of nowhere or the park coming to life. Where did he get it? Where *did* he learn magic? Who knows, certainly not us. Maybe the people that read the manhwa know. But it doesn’t matter, because maybe it’s about believing that magic *could* be real. When Ah Yi accuses him of being lazy and disconnected from reality, unwilling do do the things that need to be done, Ri Eul lays out his thesis “You should do whatever it is you want to do just as much as the things you don't want to do.” The idea of not replacing responsibility with whimsy, but to have them in equal measure is a refreshing alternative to the YOLO style other similar stories have employed. It’s a sobering lesson viewers can more easily implement in their lives.

At first I wondered why Ri Eul was so soft with Ah Yi (helping her heal her inner child, taking a beating for her etc.) and so hard on Il Deung (showing him a terrifying vision of his future if he does not change his ways, Christmas Carol style) but as we learn the truth about his past it becomes obvious. Il Deung is a reflection of Ri Eul younger self almost to a T. Seen this way, it makes sense that he’s doing the magical equivalent of shaking someone by the shoulders and telling them to wake up. I thought he simply liked the Il Deung less, but scenes like the one after his vision in the field of yellow flowers, where he wakes to find that Ri Eul has draped his cape like a blanket around him, removed his glasses to help him sleep better and painted a field of yellow flowers around him make me think otherwise. Or when he wakes up after his first vision (a horrible spectacle of mundanity which could easily be set to Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall pt 2) to find himself standing on the edge of the stage of the abandoned theater, stopped only by Ri Eul’s grip on his arm (in a way it’s symbolic, Il Deung has unknowingly walked himself to the edge of a precipice and out of all the people around him, Ri Eul is the only one who sees what’s happening and does something to hold him back from falling). These scenes, coupled together with those where the magician teaches both children how to do magic, make it clear he likes them both. In the case of Ah Yi, he recognizes that she lives a difficult life and offers respite. In the case of Il Deung, he sees himself, close to buckling under the weight of expectations and jumping off a building as he did in his own youth, so he’s more stern in his attempts to avoid history repeating itself.

Let’s talk about mental illness! Korean dramas…don’t have the best track record with this subject. It seems like we’re past the point of outright demonization (every crime they try to pin on Ri Eul turns out to have been done by someone else) but we’re not quite at the point of integration into society at large (Ri Eul still lives in a creepy abandoned park that people largely avoid and as soon as things start going wrong, fingers get pointed at the local outcast). Still, the text itself gives Ri Eul a humane look, showing that he really is just a man who suffered deeply and has come out on the other side being kind and mostly stable. The show argues that society at large is at fault for driving a healthy and brilliant individual to their breaking point. The only points we see him really be thrown off kilter (not counting the flashback to his high school days), are when he fights the creepy boss (valid!), when he chokes Ha Na (yikes! Not cool even if she *was* provoking you!) and when he tells Ah Yi that his beloved Bella is on the brink of death (the only of these outbursts which speaks of sadness rather than anger, and Ah Yi even remarks on his reaction resembling that of a child losing a beloved pet). Maybe one could interpret this in the sense of the classic ‘he’s just a grown up child’, but I think it does Ri Eul's character a disservice. To consider him that way would be to dissolve him of blame and awareness and I think he is very much aware of his actions. We’re told he was a brilliant young man, and that’s not something that just goes away. I believe he’s a person who’s made a very conscious decision to live his life in a certain way, and finds that society affords him very few options to do so, which in turn has alienated him. He’s not a respected figure, but he’s a mostly tranquil one. If it were me, I probably would’ve had much less patience for teenagers snooping around my home the way everybody (but especially Ha Na and her little friend) were doing and would’ve snapped sooner. Overall, I’m glad that we’re trying to stray away from normalizing academic exhaustion, which brings me to my next point: adulthood, childhood and the permanence of wonder and beauty.

There's a lot of talk about growing and what it means to be an adult. Ah Yi desperately wants to be an adult, Ri Eul thinks she should stay a kid and not rush stages (while recognizing her struggles led to her growing up quickly, which is important), Il Deung is on a pointless road to adulthood. There's also an idea of society determining what an adult must be/look like/act, a notion that Ah Yi challenges by the end of the story. Because all the adults in her life, despite fitting better into traditional standards of what an adult should be, have failed her (absent parents, skeptical and unhelpful teachers, a horrible boss who attempts SA), Ri Eul becomes a safe adult in her life despite being someone who is considered a failure/outcast by societal standards. He gives her something warm to drink when she needs it, stops her boss’s assault, takes a beating by the creditors, teaches her a new skill, helps her heal her inner child and overall just listens to her (even when she’s just insulting him). Knowing that it is possible to be this kind of adult (again, she's severely lacking in role models) she's empowered to continue her journey into adulthood without letting go of wonder and whimsy despite her difficult circumstances.

By the way, there’s some beautiful cinematography here and the production itself looks superb. The school is a statuesque old building, there’s beautiful nature shots such as the fantasy Il Deung has when he shares his AirPods with Ah Yi or later when he sees himself in a never ending field of yellow flowers. His drive through the city is an excellent contrast to it. The abandoned park (but especially the theater and Ri Eul's study) look super cool as well. This show does interesting things with the musical numbers, taking advantage of the musical medium’s natural inclination into fantasy to create some neat visuals (the first number with the kids flying about as though Ri Eul is controlling them but the teachers can’t see and them dancing on the side of the building (('In The Heights' movie, anybody?)), the one where Magician and Ah-yi’s shadows dance, the curse of the asphalt number and even Magician and Ah-yi’s final duet as they dance among lanterns in a mirrored room). I’ll give another shoutout to the shot of the yellow flowers painted on the stage when Il Deung wakes up because it looked so pretty that I gasped and because it exists outside of any fantasy sequence.

A final thought before I finish this absolute sprawl of a review (more like rant). I didn’t even know this was a musical until I actually started the show (I somehow missed this information on my initial googling) and let me know I was in for a TREAT. Still I know musicals aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and I can see why it would turn off some potential viewers. The fact that the music is non-diagetic only serves to add to the irreal fabric of the story, as we see fantastical sequences play out. It leaves viewers teetering between fantasy and reality, in the same way the use of magic does within the story and sometimes, magical sequences overlap with musical ones (such as the merry-go-round sequence). Are they really singing? Are they really flying? It doesn't really matter, just dwell in the fantastical ambiance and let the story take you where it wants to go. It's more enjoyable that way, as this is a show about fantasy and belief and not meant for poking holes into it. The songs are fine, nicely composed and performed if not particularly remarkable. If musicals aren't really your thing I still reccommend you refrain from skipping through them, as the visuals from the scenes are usually worth it.

Let’s talk about the ending. I see people calling this a sad ending and while I cried, I hesitate to call it anything other than a beautiful ending (bittersweet at worst). The Sound of Magic is one of those stories about people that help one another through a difficult time but who were never meant to stay in each other’s lives forever. Ri Eul is almost a plot device for Il Deung to veer from his seemingly predestined path and for Ah Yi to regain enough hope to keep living her life. He inspires them to in turn inspire others through their actions and beliefs. Il Deung tells his parents to piss off because he’s going to drop out of school and become a magician. Ah Yi continues her academic path all the way into university, though she continues to visit the abandoned park and sends letters to Ri Eul in a similar way that she did texts to her mother at the beginning of the story. Also she’s working as a part time magician for kid’s birthday parties and good on her for using those skills because, lest we forget, Ah Yi literally makes Ri Eul disappear with nothing but a tablecloth, a surprisingly chic hat and sheer power of will. I wonder how that conversation with the cops went. I also wonder if Il Deung was half as successful with his magic career.

In all seriousness though, the scene when Ah Yi makes Ri Eul disappear legitimately made me cry. It looks gorgeous, the snow inexplicably falling indoors as Ah Yi realizes how she can help her friend one last time, the proud look on Ri Eul's face as she utters the spell, the fact that it works because she believes in him and his magic, the fact that she believes because she’s let hope and wonder back into her life. Listen, this stuff gets to me. Did I want to see him again before the show ended? Sure! By this point of the story, he’s my poor little meow meow and I love him. Do I think it’s probably for the best that he didn’t? Yes. It would probably lessen the impact of his departure (which was epic and significant) to have him show up again and would take away from the mystery of his character (we’re left with a “so magic WAS real?) feeling. Ri Eul helped Ah Yi as much as he could and she helped him in turn (the scene that reveals the childhood connection broke me though I had seen it coming). Some people are only in your life for a short time (despite leaving a huge impact) and that’s okay. It’s beautiful that their relationship existed, and that it helped her during a difficult time, so it’s sad that it’s over. But the fact that his impact is still present in her life as she seeks to bring the same wonder to people’s lives that he brought into hers? Beautiful. Cycle of life, paying it forward, yadda yadda, cue me crying while I get dressed for work because I made the mistake of watching this two hours before my shift. It gets to me because the idea of maintaining childlike wonder in adulthood is one I personally try to embody in my life, so this felt affirming in a way. It also felt affirming as someone who’s struggled a fair amount with mental health (sometimes in academic settings), so like I already said, this stuff gets to me. Really, I want to take this show and hug it because it hurt me but in such a good way. In a “ughh, humanity has such potential for beauty” kind of way. Ri Eul's existence serves as a kind of remainder that hope and optimism are choices that one can make in life.

All in all, highly recommended!!!

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journey of healing in a musical

I think this is the only kdrama of its kind that’s set in musical standard. It was such a refreshing watch because I LOVE musicals.

To think JCW can still get better. The haircut in this was just on another scale of handsomeness, and his singing was so captivating.

The story is a good story. It’s not great, but the music really made it stand out. Personally, I’m not a fan of Hwang In-Yeop’s character. He did grow throughout this story, but I feel like he was useless to the plot. His plot line was kind of weird too because I wanna know what happened to him… If he wasn’t in it, the story would’ve been find.

I know it’s not a romance but there was definitely some chemistry between JCW and the main girl. Sorry, Hwang In Yeop, you had no chance. Zero sparks there.

Main girl had a wonderful voice. Angelic I might say.

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